Frozen Pastry

Hydrogenated or Trans Fats

This product type is likely to contain Hydrogenated or Trans Fats, associated with an increased risk of heart disease and sudden death from heart-related causes. The National Heart Foundation Tick program limits trans fats to less than 0.2% of fat for all products except margarine-type spreads and vegetable oils which must limit trans fat to less than 1% of total fat. Denmark and Switzerland have banned the sale of foods in which trans fat is more than 2% of the total fat content. [Choice report]

Look for less than 2g of saturated fat per 100g on the nutrition information panel (NIP) on food packages.

Avoid products that have partially hydrogenated oil on the ingredient list, especially if it's near the top of the list as ingredients are listed, by weight, from the greatest to the smallest.

Choose products low in total fat - this means trans (and saturated) fats are probably low. If saturated fat is low but total fat is high, it could mean the product is high in trans fat.

Commonly high in saturated fat

Saturated fat has been associated with increased risk of heart disease, stroke, and even cancer. In Australia, our current intake of saturated fat is about 12.5 per cent of total energy intake, higher than the recommended maximum level of 10 per cent.

Use the FoodSwitch app to scan barcodes of packaged foods to find the fat, saturated fat, salt, and sugar content. Colour-coded, easy-to-interpret nutritional information for more than 28,500 products. [FoodSwitch]